Serie A judge: More evidence needed to rule on racist chants

Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Lecce at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

MILAN (AP) — The Italian league’s disciplinary judge says he needs more evidence before deciding if Cagliari should be punished for the racist chants aimed at Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku.

League judge Gerardo Mastrandrea did not even mention the word “racist” in his weekly report, referring only to “chants that were the subject of news articles and TV reports.”

Lukaku converted Inter’s winning penalty kick against Cagliari on Sunday and then glared at home fans behind the goal as they directed monkey chants at him.

Everton forward Moise Kean was also subject to racist abuse when he played against Cagliari for Juventus last season, as was Blaise Matuidi the year before.

The Italian league did not sanction Cagliari for either incident, nor did they do so when Sulley Muntari was abused by the same team’s fans in 2017.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/apf-Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.